Typical Classification
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), Limited Distribution C
Typical Duration
Full-day course
Course Description
Atmospheric Laser Propagation addresses how to characterize and quantify the major effects of the atmosphere on directed energy weapons propagation. A first principles atmospheric propagation and characterization code called the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) is described and demonstrated. LEEDR enables the creation of climatologically- or numerical weather prediction (NWP)-derived vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, water vapor content, optical turbulence, and atmospheric particulates and hydrometeors as they relate to line-by-line or band-averaged layer extinction coefficient magnitude at any wavelength from 200 nm to 8.6 m. Applying those atmospheric effects to High Energy Lasers (HELs) is addresses by introducing and demonstrating a high-fidelity scaling-law HEL propagation coded called the High Energy Laser End-to-End Operational Simulation HELEEOS. The course outline is as follows:
- Intro to atmospheric structure and constituents
- Atmospheric boundary layer
- Aerosol / fog / clouds
- Atmospheric radiative / propagation effects
- Extinction, refraction
- Optical turbulence, scintillation
- Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR)
- HEL thermal blooming effects in the atmosphere
- Optics, beam control: turbulence / thermal blooming compensation
- Coherent beam combining
- High Energy Laser End to End Operational Simulation (HELEEOS)
Intended Audience
U.S. Government personnel and their direct contractors who have program requirements for or are interested in methods and tools to assess realistic environments and environmental effects for HEL modeling and simulation, HEL mission planning, and/or military systems operations. The course assumes the students have some technical background in radiative transfer through the atmosphere--either via an undergraduate degree or career experience.